Facts & Statistics: Nutrition

• Typical American diets exceed the recommended intake levels or limits in four categories: calories from solid fats and added sugars; refined grains; sodium; and saturated fat.²
• Americans eat less than the recommended amounts of vegetables, fruits, whole-grains, dairy products, and oils.²
• About 90% of Americans eat more sodium than is recommended for a healthy diet.⁸
• Reducing the sodium Americans eat by 1,200mg per day on could save up to $20 billion a year in medical costs.⁸
• Food available for consumption increased in all major food categories from 1970 to 2008. Average daily calories per person in the marketplace increased approximately 600 calories.²
• Since the 1970s, the number of fast food restaurants has more than doubled.²
• More than 23 million Americans, including 6.5 million children, live in food deserts – areas that are more than a mile away from a supermarket.⁹
• In 2008, an estimated 49.1 million people, including 16.7 million children, experienced food insecurity (limited availability to safe and nutritionally adequate foods) multiple times throughout the year.¹⁰
• In 2013, residents of the following states were most likely to report eating at least five servings of vegetables four or more days per week: Vermont (68.7%), Montana (63.0%) and Washington (61.8%). The least likely were Oklahoma (52.3%), Louisiana (53.3%) and Missouri (53.8%). The national average for regular produce consumption is 57.7%.⁶
• Empty calories from added sugars and solid fats contribute to 40% of total daily calories for 2–18 year olds and half of these empty calories come from six sources: soda, fruit drinks, dairy desserts, grain desserts, pizza, and whole milk.²⁷
• US adults consume an average of 3,400 mg/day [of sodium], well above the current federal guideline of less than 2,300 mg daily.²⁸
• Food safety awareness goes hand-in-hand with nutrition education. In the United States, food-borne agents affect 1 out of 6 individuals and cause approximately 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths each year.²⁹
• US per capita consumption of total fat increased from approximately 57 pounds in 1980 to 78 pounds in 2009 with the highest consumption being 85 pounds in 2005.³⁰
• The US percentage of food-insecure households, those with limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways, rose from 11% to 15% between 2005 and 2009.³¹

¹ National Association for Sport and Physical Education.The Fitness Equation: Physical Activity + Balanced Diet = Fit Kids.Reston, VA: National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 1999.

² U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010. Available at: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/dietaryguidelines.htm.

³ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/healthy_people/hp2010.htm.

⁴ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/.

⁵ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2020. Available at: http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/default.aspx.

⁶Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, Jan. 2-Dec. 29, 2013. Available at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/167645/vermont-no-frequent-exercise-produce-consumption.aspx .

⁷ Rideout, Victoria J., Foehr, Ulla G., and Roberts, Donald F. Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds. Rep. Menlo Park: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010.

²³ Physical Activity Council. 2014 Participation Report. Available at: http://www.physicalactivitycouncil.com/PDFs/current.pdf - PDF .

²⁴ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2011]. MMWR 2012;61(No. SS-66104):[1-168]). Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6104a1.htm.

25Cynthia L. Ogden, PhD; Margaret D. Carroll, MSPH; Brian K. Kit, MD, MPH; Katherine M. Flegal, PhD. Prevalence of Childhood and Adult Obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. JAMA. February 26, 2014; Vol 311, No. 8. Available at: http://www.jamanetwork.com/ .

²⁶ Eric A. Finkelstein, Justin G. Trogdon, Joel W. Cohen and William Dietz. Annual Medical Spending Attributable to Obesity: Payer- and Service-Specific Estimates. Health Affairs, 28, no.5 (2009):w822-w831 (published online July 27, 2009; 10.1377/hlthaff.28.5.w822). Available at: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/28/5/w822.full.pdf+html?sid=98ee0a7a-07da-4e7a-8545-a1930789d9c6 - PDF .

²⁷ Reedy J, Krebs-Smith SM. Dietary sources of energy, solid fats, and added sugars among children and adolescents in the United States. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Volume 110, Issue 10, Pages 1477-1484, October 2010. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20869486.

²⁸ Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Sodium Intake in Populations: Assessment of Evidence. Report Brief, May 14, 2014.

²⁹ Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Improving Food Safety Through a One Health Approach. Workshop Summary, September 10, 2012.

³⁰ United States Census Bureau. The 2012 Statistical Abstract. Health & Nutrition: Food Consumption and Nutrition. Table 217. Per Capita Consumption of Major Food Commodities: 1980 to 2009.

³¹ United States Census Bureau. The 2012 Statistical Abstract. Health & Nutrition: Food Consumption and Nutrition. Table 214. Households and Persons Having Problems with Access to Food: 2005 to 2009. Available at: https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2011/compendia/statab/131ed/health-nutrition.html.

From: https://www.hhs.gov/fitness/resource-center/facts-and-statistics/index.html#